This invention relates to terminals for making electrical connection to an electrical conductor, e.g., a wire.
In some such terminals, the wire can be securely connected by pushing a free end of the wire into the terminal. The free end is held between a metal supporting base and a springy metal gripper that has a burred edge to grab the wire, preventing it from being withdrawn. The gripper is oriented at such an angle to the base that when the wire is inserted it forces an opening between the gripper and the base. In various kinds of terminals the gripper and the base are permanently assembled by stitching or crimping, or are formed from a single piece, or are held in proper orientation by a plastic housing.
Fischer, U.S. Pat. No. 4,087,149, shows a terminal in which the base is a conventional flat plug tang of the kind used with electrical appliances; and the gripper is bow-shaped and has one long limb that rests along one side of the tang and a shorter gripping finger that has the burred edge. The wire is held between the tang and the finger. The long limb has a nipple that sits in a hole in the tang to prevent the gripper from sliding off the base.